SH’LACH L’CHA (SEND FOR YOURSELF!)

Parashat Shlach

Twelve Scouts and the Bad Report

13 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ² “Send some men on your behalf to investigate the land of Canaan, which I am giving to Bnei-Yisrael. Each man you are to send will be a prince of the tribe of his fathers, a man from each tribe.”

³ So according to the word of Adonai, Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran. All the men were princes of Bnei-Yisrael. ⁴ These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur. ⁵ From the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori. ⁶ From the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh. ⁷ From the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph. ⁸ From the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun. ⁹ From the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu. ¹⁰ From the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi. ¹¹ From the tribe of Manasseh, part of the tribe of Joseph, Gaddi son of Susi. ¹² From the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli. ¹³ From the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael. ¹⁴ From the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi. ¹⁵ From the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Machi.

¹⁶ These are the names of the men Moses sent to investigate the land. (Now he gave Hoshea son of Nun, the name Joshua.) ¹⁷ As he sent them to explore the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there through the Negev, then go up into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like and the people living there, whether they might be strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹ In what kind of land are they living? Is it good or bad? Also, what about the cities in which they are living? Are they unwalled or do they have fortifications? ²⁰ How is the soil—fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

²¹ So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob the entrance of Hamath. ²² They continued on up through the Negev and came to Hebron. There lived Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³ When they reached as far as the Valley of Eshcol, they cut a single branch with a cluster of grapes. It was carried on a pole between two of them. They also cut some pomegranates and some figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster cut by Bnei-Yisrael. ²⁵ They returned from investigating the land after 40 days.

²⁶ They traveled and returned to Moses, Aaron and the entire community of Bnei-Yisrael at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They gave their report to them and the entire assembly. They showed the land’s fruit. ²⁷ They gave their account to him and said, “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey—this is some of its fruit. ²⁸ Except, the people living in the land are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw the sons of Anak there! ²⁹ Amalek is living in the land of the Negev, the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites are living in the mountains, and the Canaanites are living near the sea and along the bank of the Jordan.”

³⁰ Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “We should definitely go up and capture the land, for we can certainly do it!”

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot attack these people, because they are stronger than we.” ³² They spread among Bnei-Yisrael a bad report about the land they had explored, saying, “The land through which we passed to explore devours its residents. All the people we saw there are men of great size! ³³ We also saw there the Nephilim. (The sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.) We seemed like grasshoppers in our eyes as well as theirs!”

Grumblers Will Not Enter the Land

14 All through that night, the entire community raised up their voices. The people wept. ² All Bnei-Yisrael grumbled against Moses and Aaron and the whole community said, “If only we had died in Egypt! If only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is Adonai bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be like plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”

⁴ They said to each other, “Let’s choose a leader and let’s go back to Egypt!”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the entire assembly of the community of Bnei-Yisrael. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes. ⁷ They said to the whole assembly of Bnei-Yisrael, “The land through which we passed is an exceptionally good land! ⁸ If Adonai is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land and will give it to us—a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁹ Only don’t rebel against Adonai, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They will be food for us. The protection over them is gone. Adonai is with us! Do not fear them.”

¹⁰ But the whole assembly talked about violently stoning them.

Then the glory of Adonai appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all Bnei-Yisrael. ¹¹ Adonai said to Moses, “How long will these people treat Me contemptibly? How long will they neglect to trust in Me—in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them with the plague. I will destroy them. But you I will make into a nation greater and stronger than they!”

¹³ Moses said to Adonai, “The Egyptians will hear about it, because You brought up this people by Your power from among them. ¹⁴ They will tell the residents of this land about it. Already they have heard that You, Adonai, are in the midst of this people, that You, Adonai, have been seen eye to eye, that Your cloud remains over them, and that in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night You go before them. ¹⁵ If you kill these people all at once, the nations who have heard this report about You will say, ¹⁶ ‘Because Adonai was unable to bring this people to the land He had promised them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷ “So please, let Adonai show His strength, just as You have spoken saying, ¹⁸ ‘Adonai is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Still, He does not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations.’ ¹⁹ Forgive now the guiltiness of this people in accordance with the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You have pardoned this people from Egypt until now!”

²⁰ Adonai answered, “I have forgiven them just as you have spoken. ²¹ But as certainly as I live and as certainly as the glory of Adonai fills the entire earth, ²² none of the people who saw My glory and My miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet tested Me these ten times and did not obey My Voice— ²³ not one of them will see the land I promised to their forefathers. None of those who treated Me with contempt will see it! ²⁴ However, My servant Caleb, because a different spirit is with him and he is wholeheartedly behind Me, I will bring him into the land where he went—his offspring will inherit it. ²⁵ Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are inhabiting the valley, turn back tomorrow and set out by the wilderness route toward the Sea of Reeds.”

²⁶ Adonai then said to Moses and Aaron saying, ²⁷ “How long will this wicked community be grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of Bnei-Yisrael grumbling against Me. ²⁸ So tell them, ‘As surely as I live,’ says Adonai, ‘I will do to you just as I heard you say in My ears. ²⁹ In this very wilderness your bodies will drop—every one of you 20 years of age and older who was numbered in the census and grumbled against Me. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land about which I lifted My hand to make home for you—except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

³¹ “As for your children—whom you said would be like plunder—I will bring them in and they will experience the land that you spurned. ³² But your bodies will drop in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be herdsmen in the wilderness for 40 years. They will suffer because of your unfaithfulness until your corpses are consumed in the wilderness. ³⁴ For 40 years, corresponding to the number of the 40 days you explored the land—one year for each day—you will suffer for your iniquities and know My hostility. ³⁵ I, Adonai, have spoken and certainly will I do this to all this wicked community banding together against Me. In this wilderness they will meet their end and there they will die!”

³⁶ Then the men whom Moses had sent to explore the land, who had returned and caused the whole community to grumble against him by spreading a bad report about the land, ³⁷ these men, spreading the bad report about the land, died of the plague in Adonai’s presence. ³⁸ Of those men who had gone to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

³⁹ When Moses related these things to all of Bnei-Yisrael, the people mourned bitterly. ⁴⁰ They rose the next morning and went up to the high mountains, saying, “Look! Let’s go up to the place which Adonai promised. For we have sinned.”

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the mouth of Adonai? That will never succeed. ⁴² You should not go up, because Adonai will not be among you and you will be defeated before your enemies! ⁴³ For the Amalekites and Canaanites are there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. Adonai will not be with you, because you turned away from following Adonai.”

⁴⁴ But presumptuously they went up to the high mountain country, though neither the Ark of Adonai’s covenant nor Moses moved from within the camp. ⁴⁵ The Amalekites and Canaanites living in the mountain country came down, attacked them, and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

Fragrant Aromas to Adonai

15 Again Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ² “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you where you will make your homes, ³ and you are presenting a fire offering to Adonai—a burnt offering or a sacrifice to mark fulfilling a vow, a freewill offering, or during moadim^[a]—to present a pleasing aroma to Adonai, from the herd or from the flock, ⁴ the one bringing the offering is to present a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil.

⁵ “Now with each lamb for the burnt offering or sacrifice, you are to prepare a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. ⁶ With a ram, you are to prepare two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, ⁷ and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. You are to offer it as a pleasing aroma to Adonai.

⁸ “Whenever you are to prepare a young bull for a burnt offering, a special vow offering, or a fellowship offering to Adonai, ⁹ bring with the young bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil. ¹⁰ You are to also offer as the drink offering half a hin of wine as a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to Adonai. ¹¹ This is to be done for each bull or ram, for each young goat or lamb. ¹² Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare.

¹³ “Everyone native-born is to do these things like so when bringing a fire offering as a pleasant aroma to Adonai. ¹⁴ Whenever an outsider resides with you, or whoever is among you for your generations to come, and he is to present a fire offering as a fragrant aroma to Adonai, as you do, he must do exactly the same as you are doing.

¹⁵ “The community will have the same rule for you as well as for the resident outsider. It will be a lasting statute throughout your generations. As for you, so for the outsider will it be before Adonai. ¹⁶ The same Torah and the same regulations will apply to both you and the outsider residing among you.”

¹⁷ Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ¹⁸ “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael. Say to them: When you enter the land to which I am taking you, ¹⁹ and you eat some of the food of the land, you are to offer a portion to Adonai. ²⁰ You are to offer a cake from the first of your ground-up meal as an offering from your threshing floor—so you are to lift it up. ²¹ Throughout your generations to come, you are to give this offering from the first of your ground-up meal.

Unintentional Versus Defiant Sin

²² “If you unintentionally fail, not keeping any of these mitzvot that Adonai related to Moses ²³ —that is, anything that Adonai commanded you through Moses’s hand, from the day Adonai commanded and onward throughout your generations— ²⁴ and it is done unintentionally out of sight of the community, then the entire community is to offer one young bull from the herd for a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to Adonai, along with its appropriate grain offering and drink offering, and one male goat as a sin offering. ²⁵ So the kohen will make atonement for the entire community of Bnei-Yisrael, and they will be forgiven, for it was unintentional and they brought a fire offering and their sin offering to Adonai for their error. ²⁶ So the whole community of Bnei-Yisrael along with the outsider residing among them will be forgiven, for all the people were involved in unintentional wrongdoing.

²⁷ “If but one person should sin unintentionally, he is to bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. ²⁸ The kohen is to make atonement before Adonai for that person who erred by sinning without intent, and he is to be forgiven when atonement has been made for him. ²⁹ Whether a native-born of Bnei-Yisrael or an outsider living among them, one Torah applies to you for the one sinning unintentionally.

³⁰ “But the person who sins defiantly, whether native or outsider, reviles Adonai and that person is to be cut off from his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the word of Adonai and has broken His commandment, that person will certainly be cut off—his guilt will remain on him.”

³² While Bnei-Yisrael were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Shabbat.

³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron and the entire assembly. ³⁴ They kept him under arrest, not being clear what was to be done to him.

³⁵ Adonai said to Moses, “The man has to die. The whole assembly is to stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶ So the whole assembly took him outside the camp. They stoned him with stones. He died just as Adonai commanded Moses.

Tzitzit for Holiness

³⁷ Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ³⁸ “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael. Say to them that they are to make for themselves tzitzit on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they are to put a blue cord on each tzitzit. ^{[b] 39} It will be your own tzitzit—so whenever you look at them, you will remember all the mitzvot of Adonai and do them and not go spying out after your own hearts and your own eyes, prostituting yourselves. ⁴⁰ This way you will remember and obey all My mitzvot and you will be holy to your God. ⁴¹ I am Adonai your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am Adonai your God.”

Rahab’s Faith

2 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out two spies from Shittim saying: “Go, explore the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and came to the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.^[a]

² The king of Jericho was told, “Some men from Bnei-Yisrael have just come here tonight to spy out the land.”

³ So the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab saying: “Bring out the men who came to you, who entered your house—for they have come to spy out all the land.”

⁴ But the woman took the two men and hid them, and said: “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from. ⁵ So when it was time to shut the gate at dark, the men went out, and I don’t know where they went. Pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” ⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax that she had spread out on the roof. ⁷ So the men pursued them on the road to the fords of the Jordan. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸ Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, ⁹ and she said to the men: “I know that Adonai has given you the land—dread of you has fallen on us and all the inhabitants of the land are melting in fear before you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how Adonai dried up the water of the Sea of Reeds before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. ¹¹ When we heard about it, our hearts melted, and no spirit remained any more in anyone because of you. For Adonai your God, He is God, in heaven above and on earth beneath. ¹² So now, please swear to me by Adonai, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house. Give me a true sign ¹³ that you will spare the lives of my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters and all who belong to them, and save our lives from death.”

¹⁴ The men said to her: “Our life for yours, if you don’t report this business of ours. Then it will be when Adonai gives us the land that we will deal kindly and loyally with you.”

¹⁵ So she lowered them down by a rope through the window—for her house was in the wall; she was living in the wall. ¹⁶ Then she said to them: “Go to the hill country, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves there for three days, until the pursuers return. Afterward, you may go your way.”

¹⁷ Then the men said to her: “We will be released from this oath that you have made us swear, ¹⁸ unless when we come into the land, you tie this line of scarlet thread in the window through which you lowered us down, and gather to yourself in the house your father, your mother, your brothers and all your father’s household— ¹⁹ whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head and we will be innocent, but whoever is with you in the house, his blood will be on our head if any hand is laid on him. ²⁰ But if you divulge this business of ours, then we will be released from your oath you have made us swear.”

²¹ So she said: “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window. ²² Then they departed and came to the hill country. They stayed there for three days until the pursuers returned. Now the pursuers had looked for them all along the road, but had not found them. ²³ Then the two men returned, came down from the hill country, crossed over and came to Joshua son of Nun.

They reported to him all that had befallen them. ²⁴ “Surely Adonai has given all the land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all the inhabitants of the land have melted in fear before us.”

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Listen and Obey, or Harden and Fall Away

⁷ Therefore, just as the Ruach ha-Kodesh says,

¹² Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil heart of unbelief that falls away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another day by day—as long as it is called “Today”—so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partners of Messiah, if we hold our original conviction firm until the end. ¹⁵ As it is said,

¹⁶ Now which ones heard and rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt with Moses? ¹⁷ And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest? Was it not to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter in because of lack of trust.

Make Every Effort to Enter God’s Rest

4 Let us fear then! Though a promise of entering His rest is left open, some of you would seem to have fallen short. ² For we also have had Good News proclaimed to us, just as they did. But the word they heard did not help them, because they were not unified with those who listened in faith. ³ For we who have trusted are entering into that rest. It is just as God has said,

even though His works were finished since the foundation of the world. ⁴ For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works,” ^{[f] 5} and again in this passage:

⁶ So then it remains for some to enter into it; yet those who formerly had Good News proclaimed to them did not enter because of disobedience. ⁷ Again, God appoints a certain day—“Today”—saying through David after so long a time, just as it has been said before,

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. ⁹ So there remains a Shabbat rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For the one who has entered God’s rest has also ceased from his own work, just as God did from His.

¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through the same pattern of disobedience.

Anticipating Hostility at Sukkot

7 After these events, Yeshua was walking about in the Galilee. He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Judean leaders wanted to kill Him. ² Now the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles^[a] was near. ³ Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so Your disciples also may see the works You are doing. ⁴ No one who wants to be well known does everything in secret. If You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world!” ⁵ For not even His brothers were trusting in Him.

⁶ Therefore Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always at hand. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify that its works are evil. ⁸ You go on up to the Feast. I’m not going to this feast, because My time hasn’t yet fully come.” ⁹ After saying these things, He stayed in the Galilee.

¹⁰ But after His brothers went to the Feast, He also went, not openly but secretly. ¹¹ Then the Judean leaders were searching for Him at the Feast and kept asking, “Where is that fellow?” ¹² There was a lot of murmuring about Him in the crowds. Some were saying, “He is good.” But others were saying, “Not so! He leads the people astray.” ¹³ Yet no one spoke openly about Him for fear of the Judean leaders.

Teaching at the Temple

¹⁴ About halfway through the Feast, Yeshua went up to the Temple and began teaching. ¹⁵ Then the Judean leaders were amazed, saying, “How does this man know so much, having never been taught?”^[b]

¹⁶ Yeshua answered, “My teaching is not from Me, but from Him who sent Me. ¹⁷ If anyone wants to do His will, he will know whether My teaching comes from God or it is Myself speaking. ¹⁸ Whoever speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true and there is no unrighteousness in Him. ¹⁹ Hasn’t Moses given you the Torah? Yet none of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”

²⁰ The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who’s trying to kill you?”

²¹ Yeshua answered, “I did one good work, and all of you are amazed. ²² Because Moses has given you circumcision (though it is not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a man on Shabbat. ²³ If a man receives circumcision on Shabbat so that the Torah of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry that I healed a man’s whole body on Shabbat? ²⁴ Do not judge by appearance, but judge righteously.”

²⁵ Then some of the people from Jerusalem were saying, “Isn’t this the person they’re trying to kill? ²⁶ Look, He speaks openly and they’re saying nothing to Him. Can it be that the leaders know He is the Messiah? ²⁷ But we know where this person is from. But the Messiah, whenever He may come, no one knows where He is from.”

²⁸ Then, while teaching in the Temple courts, Yeshua cried out, “You know both who I am and where I am from! I have not come on My own, but the One who sent Me is true. You do not know Him, ²⁹ but I know Him because I am from Him and He sent Me.”

³⁰ Then they were trying to seize Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. ³¹ Yet many from the crowd believed in Him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, He won’t perform more signs than this person has, will He?” ³² The Pharisees heard people in the crowd murmuring these things about Him, and the ruling kohanim and Pharisees sent guards to arrest Him.

³³ Yeshua said, “I am with you only a little while longer, and then I am going to the One who sent Me. ³⁴ You will look for Me but will not find Me. Where I am, you cannot come.”

³⁵ The Judean leaders then said among themselves, “Where is this person about to go that we shall not find Him? He’s not going to the Diaspora to teach the Greeks, is He? ³⁶ What did He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me but will not find Me. Where I am, you cannot come’?”

Satisfying Spiritual Thirst

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Yeshua stood up and cried out loudly, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, ‘out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” ^{[c] 39} Now He said this about the Ruach, whom those who trusted in Him were going to receive; for the Ruach^[d] was not yet given, since Yeshua was not yet glorified.

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some of the crowd said, “This man really is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others were saying, “This is the Messiah.” Still others were saying, “The Messiah doesn’t come from the Galilee, does He? ⁴² Didn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, David’s town?” ^{[e] 43} So a division arose in the crowd because of Yeshua. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to capture Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Religious Adversaries

⁴⁵ Then the guards returned to the ruling kohanim and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Him?”

⁴⁶ “Never has anyone spoken like this man,” the guards answered.

⁴⁷ The Pharisees responded, “You haven’t been led astray also, have you? ⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? ⁴⁹ No, but this mob that doesn’t know the Torah—they are cursed!”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus, the one who had come to Yeshua before and was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ “Our Torah doesn’t judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?”

⁵² They answered him, “You aren’t from the Galilee too, are you? Search, and see that no prophet comes out of the Galilee!”^[f]

⁵³ Then everyone went to his own house.

Mercy for a Sinful Woman

8 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. ² At dawn, He came again into the Temple. All the people were coming to Him, and He sat down and began to teach them.

³ The Torah scholars and Pharisees bring in a woman who had been caught in adultery. After putting her in the middle, ⁴ they say to Yeshua, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of committing adultery. ⁵ In the Torah, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do You say?” ⁶ Now they were saying this to trap Him, so that they would have grounds to accuse Him.

But Yeshua knelt down and started writing in the dirt with His finger. ⁷ When they kept asking Him, He stood up and said, “The sinless one among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Then He knelt down again and continued writing on the ground.

⁹ Now when they heard, they began to leave, one by one, the oldest ones first, until Yeshua was left alone with the woman in the middle. ¹⁰ Straightening up, Yeshua said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”

¹¹ “No one, Sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Yeshua said. “Go, and sin no more.”

The Light of the World

¹² Yeshua spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. The one who follows Me will no longer walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

¹³ Then the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself, so Your testimony is not valid.”

¹⁴ Yeshua answered them, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is valid. For I know where I came from and where I am going. But you don’t know where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge according to the flesh, but I do not judge anyone. ¹⁶ Yet even if I do judge, My judgment is true, because it is not I alone but I with the Father who sent Me. ¹⁷ Even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two men is true. ^{[g] 18} I am one witness for Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness for Me.”

¹⁹ Then they said to Him, “Where is your Father?”

Yeshua answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would also know My Father.” ²⁰ He spoke these words in the treasury while teaching in the Temple, but no one arrested Him because His hour had not yet come.

²¹ Then again Yeshua spoke to them, “I am going away. You will look for Me and die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

²² “He won’t kill Himself, will He?” the Judeans asked. “Is that why He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

²³ Yeshua said, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴ Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. If you don’t believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵ So they asked Him, “Who are you?”

Yeshua replied, “What have I been telling you from the beginning? ²⁶ I have much to say and judge about you. But the One who sent Me is true, and I tell the world what I heard from Him.” ²⁷ They didn’t understand that He was talking to them about the Father.

²⁸ So Yeshua said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am. I do nothing by Myself, but speak just what the Father has taught Me. ²⁹ The One who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to Him.”

³⁰ As He was speaking these things, many people put their trust in Him.

³¹ Then Yeshua said to the Judeans who had trusted Him, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples. ³² You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free!”

³³ They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s children and have never been slaves to anyone! How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Yeshua answered them, “Amen, amen I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now the slave does not remain in the household forever; the son abides forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed! ³⁷ I know you are Abraham’s children; yet you are trying to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. ³⁸ I tell of what I have seen with the Father; so also you do what you heard from the Father.”^[h]

³⁹ “Abraham is our father,” they replied to Him.

Yeshua said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. ⁴⁰ But now you are seeking to kill Me—a Man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do! ⁴¹ You are doing the deeds of your father.”

They said to Him, “We were not born as illegitimate children—we have one Father, God Himself!”

⁴² Yeshua said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for from God I came and now I am here. For I have not come on My own, but He sent Me. ⁴³ Why don’t you understand My speech? Because you’re not able to hear My word! ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks lies he is just being himself—for he is a liar and the father of lies.

⁴⁵ “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts Me of sinning? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe Me? ⁴⁷ He who belongs to God hears the words of God. The reason you don’t hear^[i] is because you do not belong to God.”

⁴⁸ The Judean leaders responded, “Aren’t we right to say you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

⁴⁹ Yeshua answered, “I do not have a demon! I honor My Father, yet you dishonor Me. ⁵⁰ But I do not seek My own glory; there is One who is seeking and judging. ⁵¹ Amen, amen I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”

⁵² “Now we know You have a demon!” the Judean leaders said to Him. “Abraham and the prophets died. Yet You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste death.’ ⁵³ You are not greater than our father Abraham who died, are You? The prophets also died! Who do You make Yourself out to be?”

⁵⁴ Yeshua answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. It is My Father who gives Me glory—the One of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ ^{[j] 55} Yet you do not know Him, but I know Him. If I say I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you. Yet I do know Him and keep His Word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was thrilled.”

⁵⁷ Then the Judeans said to Him, “You’re not even fifty years old and you’ve seen Abraham?”^[k]

⁵⁸ Yeshua answered, “Amen, amen I tell you, before Abraham was, I am!”

⁵⁹ Then they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Yeshua hid Himself and went out from the Temple.^[l]